Today's theme is prayer.
Mat 18:19 Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
One can assume that today's Gospel is a collection of Jesus sayings on the matter of prayer echoed in the Sermon on the Mount:
Mat 6:5 "When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites! They love to stand up and pray in the houses of worship and on the street corners, so that everyone will see them. I assure you, they have already been paid in full.
Mat 6:6 But when you pray, go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you.
Mat 6:7 "When you pray, do not use a lot of meaningless words, as the pagans do, who think that their gods will hear them because their prayers are long.
Mat 6:8 Do not be like them. Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him.
Mat 6:9 This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven: May your holy name be honored;
Mat 6:10 may your Kingdom come; may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Mat 6:11 Give us today the food we need.
Mat 6:12 Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.
Mat 6:13 Do not bring us to hard testing, but keep us safe from the Evil One.'
This passage includes The Lord's Prayer which Christians use at every worship service.
Abraham it would seem talks to God in person and is bargaining for the lives of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah for his nephew Lot lived in Sodom.
The Psalm continues the theme having the worshiper face toward the Temple as Moslems face toward Mecca. Emphasis is placed upon thanking God in prayer for what he has done. Prayer is not just about presenting God with a shopping list.
The Epistle continues the discourse on Christology begun in Chapter 1.
Next to the issue of bad things happening to good people is the perception of prayer unanswered. Just as I don't see Christianity as providing answers to all life's questions but an approach to dealing with them prayer should not be considered as the presentation of a shopping list from which one systematically crosses items off but a spiritual conversation with God which, though it may not solve every issue will give us the strength we need to deal with them. This is not to say that miracles aren't possible or that we should give up hope but that we should not feel devastated if the 'answer' we get isn't exactly what we originally asked for or expected.
The one issue that our Epistle adds to the equation is the matter of faith. In prayer we are not talking to ourselves, we have the belief that our God hears our prayers and will answer them.
Luk 11:9 And so I say to you: Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
Let your prayers be known to your God. But just as important is the act of praising God in joyful thanksgiving for the bounties he has bestowed upon us lest prayer become a gimme, gimme, gimme act.
Equally important to remember is the fact that prayer is a conversation with God and there is a need for silence as well, we need to be attuned in our lives to recognize that the answers to our prayers may appear in the most unlikely of circumstances.
We must also remember that we play a part in the Kingdom of God. As THE PRAYER acknowledges, we have a part to play in honouring His Name, bringing the Kingdom of God to pass, providing daily bread to others as well as ourselves, in not becoming the mode of temptation to others, in doing unto others as we would have them do unto us. In other words we must always remember that we may become the answer to other's prayers.
Psa 141:2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Prayer should bring us inner peace and joy which will radiate from us and be shared with those around us.
Mat 18:19 Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
One can assume that today's Gospel is a collection of Jesus sayings on the matter of prayer echoed in the Sermon on the Mount:
Mat 6:5 "When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites! They love to stand up and pray in the houses of worship and on the street corners, so that everyone will see them. I assure you, they have already been paid in full.
Mat 6:6 But when you pray, go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you.
Mat 6:7 "When you pray, do not use a lot of meaningless words, as the pagans do, who think that their gods will hear them because their prayers are long.
Mat 6:8 Do not be like them. Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him.
Mat 6:9 This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven: May your holy name be honored;
Mat 6:10 may your Kingdom come; may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Mat 6:11 Give us today the food we need.
Mat 6:12 Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.
Mat 6:13 Do not bring us to hard testing, but keep us safe from the Evil One.'
This passage includes The Lord's Prayer which Christians use at every worship service.
Abraham it would seem talks to God in person and is bargaining for the lives of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah for his nephew Lot lived in Sodom.
The Psalm continues the theme having the worshiper face toward the Temple as Moslems face toward Mecca. Emphasis is placed upon thanking God in prayer for what he has done. Prayer is not just about presenting God with a shopping list.
The Epistle continues the discourse on Christology begun in Chapter 1.
Next to the issue of bad things happening to good people is the perception of prayer unanswered. Just as I don't see Christianity as providing answers to all life's questions but an approach to dealing with them prayer should not be considered as the presentation of a shopping list from which one systematically crosses items off but a spiritual conversation with God which, though it may not solve every issue will give us the strength we need to deal with them. This is not to say that miracles aren't possible or that we should give up hope but that we should not feel devastated if the 'answer' we get isn't exactly what we originally asked for or expected.
The one issue that our Epistle adds to the equation is the matter of faith. In prayer we are not talking to ourselves, we have the belief that our God hears our prayers and will answer them.
Luk 11:9 And so I say to you: Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
Let your prayers be known to your God. But just as important is the act of praising God in joyful thanksgiving for the bounties he has bestowed upon us lest prayer become a gimme, gimme, gimme act.
Equally important to remember is the fact that prayer is a conversation with God and there is a need for silence as well, we need to be attuned in our lives to recognize that the answers to our prayers may appear in the most unlikely of circumstances.
We must also remember that we play a part in the Kingdom of God. As THE PRAYER acknowledges, we have a part to play in honouring His Name, bringing the Kingdom of God to pass, providing daily bread to others as well as ourselves, in not becoming the mode of temptation to others, in doing unto others as we would have them do unto us. In other words we must always remember that we may become the answer to other's prayers.
Psa 141:2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Prayer should bring us inner peace and joy which will radiate from us and be shared with those around us.
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